GOP Senators Laud Testimony By Governor Mandel 3-05-09
When the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee held its hearing on February 18th for SB 279 - Criminal Law - Death Penalty - Repeal, Republican Senators believed that some of the most compelling testimony presented that day was from former Governor Marvin Mandel. Drawing on his experiences as a legislator and Governor, he provided real-life examples of critical situations that convinced him of the soundness of the death penalty in the state's criminal justice policies.
To these Senator's surprise, the next day's media featured the anti-death penalty testimony of Governor Martin O'Malley and former Governors Parris Glendening and Harry Hughes but neglected to mention the advocacy of Governor Mandel.
During the second reader debate on the death penalty bill, two Republican Senators remarked upon the convincing accounts provided by Governor Mandel:
Floor speech of Minority Whip Nancy Jacobs (R - Harford & Cecil):
Senator Jacobs: Thank you Mr. President.
I feel as strongly as I do about the death penalty because of a situation in my own county, in my own district, and that is regarding the murder of Dawn Marie Garvin and the man that was put to death a few years ago for that murder.
He would have qualified under this legislation to be put to death, and the family felt so strongly that that needed to happen, and that is partially why I feel as strongly as I do regarding this issue. So the Romano family I am sure right now as this goes forward, thanks this body for the efforts that we have all, on both sides of this issue, put forward.
Another person I personally wish to thank is former Governor Marvin Mandel. He also testified in our committee about this. He didn’t give us any written testimony, he stood up and he spoke from his heart about a situation he faced when there was prison riots, and he went into the prison. And after they calmed the riots, he was walking through the prison with the warden. And he ran into, literally close to, a prisoner who called him over and said, “Would you please do something? I’ve been here for over a year and they won’t let me out of my cell. They won’t let me have any interaction with anyone else. I don’t think that’s right. Would you please see if you could do something about that?”
So Governor Mandel went to the warden and he said, “Would you tell me the story on this man, because this is what he told me.” And he replied, “well there is a very good reason that we have not let this man see the light of day, and interact with others. Because he has stated over and over again, when the opportunity arises, and he gets out of that cell, he is going to kill the first person he sees.”
Governor Mandel walked back to that man, and he smiled when he said this to me later, “I didn’t walk quite so close” and he said to the man, “I talked to the warden, and he said the reason why they aren’t letting you out is because you said you would kill the first person you could get your hands on, is that true?” The prisoner responded, “yes sir that is true.” And at that point, Governor Mandel changed his mind on the death penalty.
So I feel like Governor Mandel gave compelling testimony that has not been brought to light. And I just want to thank Governor Mandel for his part in this. Thank you Mr. President.
Floor speech of Senator Larry Haines (R - Carroll & Baltimore):
Senator Haines: Thank you, Mr. President. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Senate.
Over the years that I’ve been here, I’ve heard a lot of testimony about the death penalty in Maryland. And from the commission report, from all the testimony that came before our committee, and all the questions that were asked, there has not been one shred of evidence that an innocent person has ever been executed in the State of Maryland.
Since 1978, there have been approximately 13,000 murders in this state. That's 13,000. We have executed 5 people since that 1978. We have committed 5 people to death row. If you look at the history of modern Maryland prior to 1978, there were 306 people that were executed.
What we are debating here today, and based on the fact that the bill is going to move forward to the 3rd reader, I don’t think that we have anything in this legislation that will reduce murder in the state of Maryland.
See that’s the issue. Just think about the carnage on our streets. And it’s not just in the population centers and the inner cities. We’re having more crime in the rural area where I represent. And when we look at the statistics, and what’s happening in the State of Maryland, is the death penalty a deterrent to murder? Well to be eligible for a death sentence, we have 13 aggravating circumstances, and I just want to give you some numbers here.
When we look at all the murders that have been committed since 1978, the death penalty is imposed in only .06 % of death eligible murders (or less than 2/10s of 1% of all murders in Maryland). Maryland is not a runaway state on imposing the death sentence. There are very, very few times that the prosecutors, even when they have a death eligible case, push for the death sentence to be imposed.
And I want to relate to what Governor Marvin Mandel said to our committee. I believe that he had the most convincing testimony in support of not repealing the death penalty. He said in 1976 when he was governor, we were having some riots in our prisons, and he was told there was a riot in our prison in Baltimore. He was advised to not visit the prison but he said “No, I want to go.” In his testimony, he said, “They flew me up to Baltimore in a helicopter, and two inmates had one of the guards up in the towers and had threatened to throw him overboard and kill him."
In response to this crisis, Marvin Mandel got on the public address system and said to the inmates, “We’re in session in Annapolis. I’m going back to Annapolis and the House and the Senate are going to pass a bill. It will insure that the two inmates will be executed if they kill this prison guard.” And he said, “I’m going to sign the bill.” As a result, the inmates didn’t throw the prison guard over and they didn’t kill the prison guard. That was a deterrent to that guard being murdered.